Daiganji Temple

Its official name is Kameiyama Hokoin Daiganji. Its founding date is unknown, but it is an ancient Shingon Buddhist temple that is said to have been rebuilt by the monk Ryokai during the Kennin era (1201-1203). Until the Meiji era's Shinbutsu Bunri-e (law to separate Shinto and Buddhism), it was responsible for the repair and construction of temples as the construction commissioner of Itsukushima Shrine, and was at the center of the Itsukushima Garan complex, which includes the Senjokaku, five-story pagoda, and two-storied pagoda. The temple's secret Buddha statue, Itsukushima Benzaiten, is said to have been made by Kobo Daishi Kukai, and is one of the three great Benzaiten in Japan. Benzaiten is the goddess of worldly benefits, and during the period of Shinbutsu Shugo, Ichikishimahimerei, the chief deity of Itsukushima Shrine, came to be worshiped as the goddess of financial management and was identified with the Buddhist Benzaiten. In addition to the Itsukushima Benzaiten, which was moved from Itsukushima Shrine in response to the Shinbutsu Bunri Edict, the museum houses the wooden Yakushi Nyorai statue (Important Cultural Property), said to be the oldest existing Buddhist statue on Miyajima, the wooden seated Shaka Nyorai statue (Important Cultural Property) that was the principal image of Senjokaku, the statues of Anan and Kasyapa (both Important Cultural Properties) that guarded either side of it, the triad that was the principal image of the five-story pagoda, the Yakushi Nyorai statue that was the principal image of the Tahoto pagoda, and the Nyoirin Kannon Bodhisattva that was the principal image of the Goma hall.The Shoin study at the back of the main hall is also known as the place where Katsu Kaishu and samurai representing the Choshu clan held peace conferences during the Second Choshu War.